Review: Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

By Bill Willingham
Art by Craig Hamilton, Jim Fern, Ray Snyder, and Mark Farmer
Cover by Daniel Dos Santos
Available now from Vertigo (DC)
Review copy

WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND is the second standalone trade in Bill Willingham's Fables series.  I preferred the first (1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL), but that may be because I loved its structure so much.

WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND finds Bigby Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf to those who haven't read a Fables book before), arriving in Story City, Iowa.  He's searching for a new location for Fabletown and did not expect to find a community of werewolves - especially not one containing a few familiar faces.

Vertigo promises that WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND is a good place to start Fables as well as entertaining adventure for old fans of the mythos.  As someone who has read several Fables books but not even close to half of what is available, I'll endorse that statement.  There's nothing going on in the novel that requires knowledge of the main story arc, and plenty of hints about what has gone on to intrigue new readers.  (At least, it will intrigue new readers who want to see Prince Charming duel Bluebeard.)

Art is, of course, a big part of any successful graphic novel.  For the most part I like the art in WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND.  The colors are soft, the lines are clean, and there are plenty of backgrounds but the panels aren't cluttered.  The shading feels rather old school to me, which I liked.  It fits a tale involving a long flashback to WWII.  But some panels just didn't work for me.  Some of the close ups just have such dead eyes that it is both creepy and distracting.

The story is pretty simple.  I wish Oda, the girl passed out on the cover, had more to do.  She might be precognitive and she certainly gets a portentous last line, but she disappears during the climax . . . passed out.  (Before that she gets the cliche woman trying to seduce a guy to her purposes scene.)  Bigby Wolf, meanwhile, gets to show off his sense of law and justice on the frontier.  Unsurprisingly, it's swift and brutal.  It's nice to see a bit of Bigby's past, but it's a bit boring to see him put up against a group of werewolves who are so outclassed.  (And I don't think the whole "Bigby-as-the-werewolf-God" thing was every fully explained.)

WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND is an entertaining adventure and will definitely appeal to those looking to read a standalone graphic novel in addition to fans of the Fables series.  Fairytale fans might pursue an entry in the series more based in folklore, however.  And yes, this book is rated for mature readers including violence and full-frontal nudity of both genders, mostly nonsexual.  Probably nothing an older teen can't handle, but not the best choice of reading for your morning commute depending on how nosy your fellow passengers are.

Review: Darkwater

By Catherine Fisher
Available now from Dial (Penguin)
Review copy

Welsh fantasist extraordinaire Catherine Fisher takes on the familiar tale of someone who sells their soul and regrets it.  But she does it in her own style, leading to an ending most readers won't expect unless they're really up on their mythology and/or folklore.

The young girl who sells her soul is Sarah Trevelyan, the last of the once-proud Trevelyan family.  I take that back; they're still proud, they've just lost everything.  But she sells her soul to regain Darkwater Hall from its new lord, giving her a hundred years as the landowner.  When payment comes due, Sarah must prevent fifteen-year-old Tom from making her mistake.

DARKWATER was a pretty quick read.  It's not that long, and it's comforting familiar, a moral fable in new guise.  As mentioned before, however, Fisher does it in her style and she has the chops to flesh out a basic tale.  The text explores both Sarah and Tom's motives, letting their inner psychology be observed and judged.  After all, you don't get devils coming after your soul unless you have some sort of fatal flaw.

I liked that DARKWATER was creepy, but not too creepy, since I wasn't in the mood for horror when I read it.  (I was a little wary due to the awesome cover.)  I mean, I never get nightmares from books, but I needed something that wouldn't make me shriek whenever my niece interrupted me.  (I tend to get absorbed in books.)

I quite enjoyed DARKWATER and think fellow Fisher fans will like it too.  I suggest it for fans of ANOTHER FAUST by Daniel and Dina Nayeri too - perhaps even fans of an older version of Faust, be it Goethe or Marlowe.

Why I Love Serialized Fiction by Melissa de la Cruz

Today's guest is Melissa de la Cruz, author of the Blue Bloods series.  Her new release is WOLF PACT, a serialized novel of which the last part comes out next week, on December 4th.  I reviewed the first part earlier today.  The action in WOLF PACT leads up to GATES OF PARADISE (Jan 15, 2013), the final book in the Blue Bloods series.  Read on to find out why Melissa decided to publish WOLF PACT as an eBook original serial.

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I'm a huge fan of serialized fiction.  To me they're like little TV episodes for a book -- tune in next week for the next installment! I actually started my fiction career by writing serial fiction. I wrote "Cat's Meow" which became my first novel as a weekly column for a fashion website called www.hintmag.com my friends and I started. I collected them into a proposal and then Simon and Schuster bought it as my first novel. After the book was published, Gotham magazine asked if I wanted to write a weekly serial for them, so I wrote "The Fortune Hunters" for a year. I sold it as a novel to Random House but I actually got too busy and wasn't able to publish it. (Maybe I still will one day, who knows!)  

So to me, going back to serial fiction is like coming home. Wolf Pact was not originally intended to be a serial or an e-book, but as I began to write it, I knew how IMPORTANT it was to publish it before the final Blue Bloods book came out, and how much of a richer reading experience Gates of Paradise would be with the wolves' back story. We decided to go the e-book route in order to bring Wolf Pact to the fans first. I wrote the novel as a novel, and when we made this decision, I had to figure out how to restructure it so it would fit the serial format. It worked out pretty well, because I'd laid out the book in four parts anyway, and from two POVs—Lawson and Bliss. 

Wolf Pact was years in the making, but writing isn't a machine-like process, it took a long time for the story to gel and to discover how the wolves' story related to the vampires. Once you unearth it though, it always amazes me how well it fits, as if it was there all along. I always forget a writer's job is to hunt for the gem of the story in the idea. You have to keep chiseling away to find it. When you do, your work is done, and you turn it in. :)

Review: Wolf Pact: Part One

Part One of Four
Companion to the Blue Bloods series
By Melissa de la Cruz
Available now from Disney Hyperion
Review copy
Read my review of THE VAN ALEN LEGACY and my interview with Melissa

WOLF PACT is a serial novel by Melissa de la Cruz exploring the wolves of the Blue Bloods' world and their relationship to Bliss Llewellyn.  The fourth and final part comes out next week on December 4th.  I am only reviewing the first part, which may seem a touch pricey at sixty-ish pages for $1.99.  But in the end that's a whole book for $7.96, which is below market price.  Plus, I think serials are fun and I'm happy major publishers are playing around with the model.

WOLF PACT begins in Hell, where Lawson and his pack escape from their masters before they can be turned into hellhounds.  But their escape comes at a price, and they are pursued by the hounds because they can still be converted as long as they're recaptured before they turn seventeen.  Meanwhile, Bliss and her Aunt Jane search for the wolves in order to ally with them to fight the Silver Bloods.

While WOLF PACT deals with a society that's not explored in the main Blue Bloods continuity, it's not really friendly to new readers.  Since Lawson and the pack are new to Earth, they are briefly caught up on the various factions.  But de la Cruz's world is too involved to be explained so quickly.  I can't be sure since I've read the Blue Bloods novels, but I suspect WOLF PACT will appeal more to fans than newbies.

Now, the Blue Bloods series is one that I once loved, but I've been disappointed by later installments.  I think WOLF PACT gets back to what made the first books more appealing.  There's action, a sense of fate, and what seems to be the set up for a neatly woven plot.  I'm intrigued enough to read Part Two.

Come back later today for a guest blog from Melissa!

Movie Monday: Reservoir Dogs

I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs since I was a teenager. A young teenager, in fact. I remember liking the film, but think I never watched it again because I was uncomfortable with the language and violence.

Rewatching it as an adult was a very different experience.  For one thing, it looks cheaper to my eyes now.  Quentin Tarantino did an amazing job for a first-time director, but he wasn't able to entirely conceal his budget.  For another, I realized Michael Madsen is very attractive.

I mean, I've read lots of articles wondering why he isn't a big star.  And I always sat there thinking, "Uh, because he's greasy and gross?"  Turns out I remembered him that way because Mr. Blond is so loathsome.  Madsen is actually a decent looking guy with amazing blue eyes.

And, probably most importantly, I noticed how Tarantino uses language to great effect in Reservoir Dogs.  The n-word is frequently thrown around.  Misogynist things are said.  But the robbers, no matter how cool and sometimes sympathetic they might seem, are not nice people.  The undercover cop - do I need to be wary of spoilers for a twenty-year old movie? - doesn't use the n-word, however.  He also has a black boss who he respects.  The cops in Reservoir Dogs aren't much better than the criminals, but there is are differences between them.

Overall, it's a great film.  I am happy I saw it young, before I saw all the films it influenced, so that it still felt fresh and innovative.  But I'm happy I watched it again, because I have a different perspective now.

Are there any movies that seem very different to you now than they did when you were young?